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Characene

August 20, 2023

Characene (Ancient Greek: Χαρακηνή), also known as Mesene (Μεσσήνη)[2] or Meshan, was a kingdom founded by the Iranian[3] Hyspaosines located at the head of the Persian Gulf mostly within modern day Iraq. Its capital, Charax Spasinou (Χάραξ Σπασινού), was an important port for trade between Mesopotamia and India, and also provided port facilities for the city of Susa further up the Karun River. The kingdom was frequently a vassal of the Parthian Empire. Characene was mainly populated by Arabs, who spoke Aramaic as their cultural language.[1] All rulers of the principality had Iranian names.[4] Members of the Arsacid dynasty also ruled the state.[5]

Characene
141 BC–222 AD
A map of Characene.
StatusAutonomous state, frequently a vassal of the Parthian Empire
CapitalCharax Spasinu
Common languagesAramaic (cultural language)[1]
GovernmentMonarchy
• 141–124 BC
Hyspaosines (first)
• 210–222 AD
Abinergaios III (last)
Historical eraClassical antiquity
• Established
141 BC
• Sasanian conquest
222 AD
Preceded by		 Succeeded by

Name

The name "Characene" originated from the name of the capital of the kingdom, Charax Spasinu. The kingdom was also known by the older name of the region, "Mesene", which is seemingly of Persian origin, meaning "land of buffalos" or the "land of sheep."[6]

History

The capital of Characene, Alexandria, was originally founded by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, with the intention of using the town as a leading commercial port for his eastern capital of Babylon.[7] The region itself became the Satrapy of the Erythraean Sea.[8] However, the city never lived up to its expectations, and was destroyed in the mid 3rd-century BC by floods.[7] It was not until the reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175 – 164 BC) that the city was rebuilt and renamed Antiochia.[7] After the city was fully restored in 166/5 BC, Antiochus IV appointed Hyspaosines as governor (eparch) of Antiochia and the Satrapy of the Erythraean Sea.[9]

During this period Antiochia briefly flourished, until Antiochus IV's abrupt death in 163 BC, which weakened Seleucid authority throughout the empire.[7] With the weakening of the Seleucids, many political entities within the empire declared independence, such as the neighbouring region of Characene, Elymais, which was situated in most of the present-day province of Khuzestan in southern Iran.[7] Hyspaosines, although now a more or less independent ruler, remained a loyal subject of the Seleucids.[7] Hyspaosines' keenness to remain as a Seleucid governor was possibly due to avoid interruption in the profitable trade between Antiochia and Seleucia.[7]

The Seleucids had suffered heavy defeats by the Iranian Parthian Empire; in 148/7 BC, the Parthian king Mithridates I (r. 171–132 BC) conquered Media and Atropatene, and by 141 BC, was in the possession of Babylonia.[10] The menace and proximity of the Parthians caused Hyspaosines to declare independence.[7] In 124 BC, however, Hyspaosines accepted Parthian suzerainty, and continued to rule Characene as a vassal.[11] Characene would generally remain a semi-autonomous kingdom under Parthian suzerainty till its fall. The realm of the kingdom included the islands Failaka and Bahrain.[12]

The kings of Characene are known mainly by their coins, consisting mainly of silver tetradrachms with Greek and later Aramaic inscriptions. These coins are dated after the Seleucid era, providing a secure framework for chronological succession.

 
Coin of Hyspaosines as King, minted at Charax Spasinu in 126/5 BC

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder praises the port of Charax:

The embankments extend in length a distance of nearly 4½ kilometers, in breadth a little less. It stood at first at a distance of 1¾ km from the shore, and even had a harbor of its own. But according to Juba, it is 75 kilometer from the sea; and at the present day, the ambassadors from Arabia, and our own merchants who have visited the place, say that it stands at a distance of one 180 kilometers from the sea-shore. Indeed, in no part of the world have alluvial deposits been formed more rapidly by the rivers, and to a greater extent than here; and it is only a matter of surprise that the tides, which run to a considerable distance beyond this city, do not carry them back again.[13]

Trade continued to be important. A famous Characenian, a man named Isidore, was the author of a treatise on Parthian trade routes, the Mansiones Parthicae. The inhabitants of Palmyra had a permanent trading station in Characene. Many inscriptions mention caravan trade.

Next to Charax, other important cities were Forat (at the Tigris), Apologos and Teredon.[14] On his coins Meredates (ruled 131 to 150/151) calls himself king of the Omani. The latter are mentioned sporadically by ancient writers. According to Pliny (VI.145) they lived between Petra and Charax. They were according to some schola for a certain period part of the Charakene. So it seems that the kingdom extended to the South of the Persian Gulf.[15] However, the reading and interpretation of the legends on the king's coins is problematic.[16]

In AD 115 the Roman emperor Trajan conquered Mesopotamia as main part of his Parthian campaign. He also reached Characene, where he saw ships bound for India. According to Cassius Dio,[17] Attambelos ruled there and was friendly to the emperor. Also the people of Charax Spasinu are described as friendly towards the emperor. The following two years, the Charakene remained most likely Roman, but emperor Hadrian decided to withdraw from Trajan's territorial gains. It remains uncertain whether the Charakene remained independent or whether it was placed under direct Parthian rule. The next Parthian king attested in ancient sources is Meredates, mentioned in an inscription at Palmyra datable to 131.[18]

In 221–222 AD, an ethnic Persian, Ardashir V, who was King of Persis, led a revolt against the Parthians, establishing the Sasanian Empire. According to later Arab histories, he defeated Characene forces, killed its last ruler, rebuilt the town, and renamed it Astarābād-Ardašīr.[19] The area around Charax that had been the Characene state was thereon known by the Aramaic name myšn, myšwn in the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Kamma 97b; Baba Bathra 73a; Shabbat 101a), or myšyn as attested in an Aramaic incantation bowl from Nippur,[20] which was later adapted by the Arab conquerors as Maysān.[21]

Charax continued, under the name Maysān, with Persian texts making various mention of governors throughout the fifth century. A Nestorian Church was mentioned there in the sixth century. The Charax mint appears to have continued throughout the Sassanid empire and into the Umayyad empire, minting coins as late as AD 715.[22]

The earliest references from the first century A.D. indicates that the people of Characene were referred to as Μεσηνός and lived along the Arabian side of the coast at the head of the Persian Gulf.

Kings

References

  1. ^ a b Bosworth 1986, pp. 201–203.
  2. ^ Morony, Michael G. (2005). Iraq After The Muslim Conquest. Gorgias Press LLC. p. 155. ISBN 9781593333157.
  3. ^ Hansman 1991, pp. 363–365; Eilers 1983, p. 487; Erskine, Llewellyn-Jones & Wallace 2017, p. 77; Strootman 2017, p. 194
  4. ^ Eilers 1983, p. 487.
  5. ^ Gregoratti 2017, p. 133.
  6. ^ Gnoli 2022, p. 319.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Hansman 1991, pp. 363–365.
  8. ^ Potts 1988, p. 137.
  9. ^ Potts 1988, pp. 137–138.
  10. ^ Curtis 2007, pp. 10–11; Bivar 1983, p. 33; Garthwaite 2005, p. 76; Brosius 2006, pp. 86–87
  11. ^ Shayegan 2011, p. 114.
  12. ^ Pierre-Louis Gatier, Pierre Lombard, Khaled Al-Sindi (2002)ː Greek Inscriptions from Bahrain. inː Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, Wiley, 2002, 13 (2), pp.225.
  13. ^ Pliny the Elder (AD 77). Natural History. Book VI. xxxi. 138-140. Translation by W. H. S. Jones, Loeb Classical Library, London/Cambridge, Massachusetts (1961).
  14. ^ Schuol 2000, p. 282.
  15. ^ Schuol 2000, p. 329, 353.
  16. ^ Potts 1988, pp. 148–149.
  17. ^ (LXVIII, 28, 3-29)
  18. ^ Schuol 2000, p. 350.
  19. ^ Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ṭabarī I
  20. ^ Stephen A. Kaufman (1983). "Appendix C. Alphabetic Texts." In McGuire Gibson. Excavations at Nippur Eleventh Season. Oriental Institute Communications, 22, pp. 151–152. https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oic/oic-22-excavations-nippur-eleventh-season
  21. ^ Yaqut al-Hamawi, Kitab mu'jam al-buldan IV and III
  22. ^ Characene and Charax, Characene and Charax Encyclopaedia Iranica

Sources

  • Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 0-521-20092-X..
  • Bosworth, C. E. (1986). "ʿArab i. Arabs and Iran in the pre-Islamic period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 2. pp. 201–203.
  • Brosius, Maria (2006). The Persians: An Introduction. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-32089-4.
  • Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007), "The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period", in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart (ed.), The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran, vol. 2, London & New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum, pp. 7–25, ISBN 978-1-84511-406-0.
  • Eilers, Wilhelm (1983), "Iran and Mesopotamia", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, London: Cambridge UP, pp. 481–505
  • Erskine, Andrew; Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd; Wallace, Shane (2017). The Hellenistic Court: Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra. The Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 978-1910589625.
  • Garthwaite, Gene Ralph (2005). The Persians. Oxford & Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-55786-860-2.
  • Gnoli, Tommaso (2022). "The Parthian and Sasanian Near East (including Hatra, Edessa, and the Characene)". In Kaizer, Ted (ed.). A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 316–327. ISBN 978-1444339826.
  • Gregoratti, Leonardo (2017). "The Arsacid Empire". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.). King of the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE). UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies. pp. 1–236. ISBN 9780692864401.
  • Hansman, John F. (1998). "Elymais". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 4. pp. 373–376.
  • Hansman, John (1991). "Characene and Charax". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. V, Fasc. 4. pp. 363–365.
  • Potts, Daniel T. (1988). Araby the blest : studies in Arabian archaeology. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies. ISBN 8772890517.
  • Schippmann, K. (1986). "Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 5. pp. 525–536.
  • Schuol, Monika (2000), Die Charakene: ein mesopotamisches Königreich in hellenistisch-parthischer Zeit, Stuttgart: . Steiner, ISBN 3-515-07709-X.
  • Shayegan, M. Rahim (2011). Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–539. ISBN 9780521766418.
  • Strootman, Rolf (2017). "Imperial Persianism: Seleukids, Arsakids and Fratarakā". In Strootman, Rolf; Versluys, Miguel John (eds.). Persianism in Antiquity. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 177–201. ISBN 978-3515113823.

Further reading

  • Gregoratti Leonardo, A Parthian port on the Persian Gulf: Characene and its Trade, "Anabasis, Studia Classica et Orientalia", 2, (2011), 209-229
  • Schuol, Monika (2000) Die Charakene : ein mesopotamisches Königreich in hellenistisch-parthischer Zeit. Stuttgart: F. Steiner. ISBN 3-515-07709-X
  • Sheldon A. Nodelman, A Preliminary History of Charakene, Berytus 13 (1959/60), 83-121, XXVII f.,
  • Hansman, John (1991) Characene and Charax Encyclopedia Iranica (print version Vol. V, Fasc. 4, pp. 363–365). Retrieved 25 April 2016.

August 20, 2023
characene, ancient, greek, Χαρακηνή, also, known, mesene, Μεσσήνη, meshan, kingdom, founded, iranian, hyspaosines, located, head, persian, gulf, mostly, within, modern, iraq, capital, charax, spasinou, Χάραξ, Σπασινού, important, port, trade, between, mesopota. Characene Ancient Greek Xarakhnh also known as Mesene Messhnh 2 or Meshan was a kingdom founded by the Iranian 3 Hyspaosines located at the head of the Persian Gulf mostly within modern day Iraq Its capital Charax Spasinou Xara3 Spasinoy was an important port for trade between Mesopotamia and India and also provided port facilities for the city of Susa further up the Karun River The kingdom was frequently a vassal of the Parthian Empire Characene was mainly populated by Arabs who spoke Aramaic as their cultural language 1 All rulers of the principality had Iranian names 4 Members of the Arsacid dynasty also ruled the state 5 Characene141 BC 222 ADA map of Characene StatusAutonomous state frequently a vassal of the Parthian EmpireCapitalCharax SpasinuCommon languagesAramaic cultural language 1 GovernmentMonarchy 141 124 BCHyspaosines first 210 222 ADAbinergaios III last Historical eraClassical antiquity Established141 BC Sasanian conquest222 ADPreceded by Succeeded bySeleucid Empire Sasanian Empire Contents 1 Name 2 History 3 Kings 4 References 5 Sources 6 Further readingName EditThe name Characene originated from the name of the capital of the kingdom Charax Spasinu The kingdom was also known by the older name of the region Mesene which is seemingly of Persian origin meaning land of buffalos or the land of sheep 6 History EditThe capital of Characene Alexandria was originally founded by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great with the intention of using the town as a leading commercial port for his eastern capital of Babylon 7 The region itself became the Satrapy of the Erythraean Sea 8 However the city never lived up to its expectations and was destroyed in the mid 3rd century BC by floods 7 It was not until the reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes r 175 164 BC that the city was rebuilt and renamed Antiochia 7 After the city was fully restored in 166 5 BC Antiochus IV appointed Hyspaosines as governor eparch of Antiochia and the Satrapy of the Erythraean Sea 9 During this period Antiochia briefly flourished until Antiochus IV s abrupt death in 163 BC which weakened Seleucid authority throughout the empire 7 With the weakening of the Seleucids many political entities within the empire declared independence such as the neighbouring region of Characene Elymais which was situated in most of the present day province of Khuzestan in southern Iran 7 Hyspaosines although now a more or less independent ruler remained a loyal subject of the Seleucids 7 Hyspaosines keenness to remain as a Seleucid governor was possibly due to avoid interruption in the profitable trade between Antiochia and Seleucia 7 The Seleucids had suffered heavy defeats by the Iranian Parthian Empire in 148 7 BC the Parthian king Mithridates I r 171 132 BC conquered Media and Atropatene and by 141 BC was in the possession of Babylonia 10 The menace and proximity of the Parthians caused Hyspaosines to declare independence 7 In 124 BC however Hyspaosines accepted Parthian suzerainty and continued to rule Characene as a vassal 11 Characene would generally remain a semi autonomous kingdom under Parthian suzerainty till its fall The realm of the kingdom included the islands Failaka and Bahrain 12 The kings of Characene are known mainly by their coins consisting mainly of silver tetradrachms with Greek and later Aramaic inscriptions These coins are dated after the Seleucid era providing a secure framework for chronological succession Coin of Hyspaosines as King minted at Charax Spasinu in 126 5 BCIn his Natural History Pliny the Elder praises the port of Charax The embankments extend in length a distance of nearly 4 kilometers in breadth a little less It stood at first at a distance of 1 km from the shore and even had a harbor of its own But according to Juba it is 75 kilometer from the sea and at the present day the ambassadors from Arabia and our own merchants who have visited the place say that it stands at a distance of one 180 kilometers from the sea shore Indeed in no part of the world have alluvial deposits been formed more rapidly by the rivers and to a greater extent than here and it is only a matter of surprise that the tides which run to a considerable distance beyond this city do not carry them back again 13 Trade continued to be important A famous Characenian a man named Isidore was the author of a treatise on Parthian trade routes the Mansiones Parthicae The inhabitants of Palmyra had a permanent trading station in Characene Many inscriptions mention caravan trade Next to Charax other important cities were Forat at the Tigris Apologos and Teredon 14 On his coins Meredates ruled 131 to 150 151 calls himself king of the Omani The latter are mentioned sporadically by ancient writers According to Pliny VI 145 they lived between Petra and Charax They were according to some schola for a certain period part of the Charakene So it seems that the kingdom extended to the South of the Persian Gulf 15 However the reading and interpretation of the legends on the king s coins is problematic 16 In AD 115 the Roman emperor Trajan conquered Mesopotamia as main part of his Parthian campaign He also reached Characene where he saw ships bound for India According to Cassius Dio 17 Attambelos ruled there and was friendly to the emperor Also the people of Charax Spasinu are described as friendly towards the emperor The following two years the Charakene remained most likely Roman but emperor Hadrian decided to withdraw from Trajan s territorial gains It remains uncertain whether the Charakene remained independent or whether it was placed under direct Parthian rule The next Parthian king attested in ancient sources is Meredates mentioned in an inscription at Palmyra datable to 131 18 In 221 222 AD an ethnic Persian Ardashir V who was King of Persis led a revolt against the Parthians establishing the Sasanian Empire According to later Arab histories he defeated Characene forces killed its last ruler rebuilt the town and renamed it Astarabad Ardasir 19 The area around Charax that had been the Characene state was thereon known by the Aramaic name mysn myswn in the Babylonian Talmud Baba Kamma 97b Baba Bathra 73a Shabbat 101a or mysyn as attested in an Aramaic incantation bowl from Nippur 20 which was later adapted by the Arab conquerors as Maysan 21 Charax continued under the name Maysan with Persian texts making various mention of governors throughout the fifth century A Nestorian Church was mentioned there in the sixth century The Charax mint appears to have continued throughout the Sassanid empire and into the Umayyad empire minting coins as late as AD 715 22 The earliest references from the first century A D indicates that the people of Characene were referred to as Meshnos and lived along the Arabian side of the coast at the head of the Persian Gulf Kings EditHyspaosines c 127 124 BC Apodakos c 110 09 104 03 BC Tiraios I 95 94 90 89 BC possible usurper Hippokrates Autokrator Nikephoros 81 80 BC Tiraios II 79 78 49 48 BC Artabazos I 49 48 48 47 BC Attambelos I 47 46 25 24 BC Theonesios I c 19 18 Attambelos II c 17 16 BC AD 8 9 Abinergaos I 10 11 22 23 Orabazes I c 19 Attambelos III c 37 38 44 45 Theonesios II c 46 47 Theonesios III c 52 53 Attambelos IV 54 55 64 65 Attambelos V 64 65 73 74 Orabazes II c 73 80 Pakoros 80 101 02 Attambelos VI c 101 02 105 06 Theonesios IV c 110 11 112 113 Attambelos VII 113 14 117 Meredates c 131 150 51 Orabazes II c 150 51 165 Abinergaios II c 165 180 Attambelos VIII c 180 195 Maga c 195 210 Abinergaos III c 210 222References Edit a b Bosworth 1986 pp 201 203 Morony Michael G 2005 Iraq After The Muslim Conquest Gorgias Press LLC p 155 ISBN 9781593333157 Hansman 1991 pp 363 365 Eilers 1983 p 487 Erskine Llewellyn Jones amp Wallace 2017 p 77 Strootman 2017 p 194 Eilers 1983 p 487 Gregoratti 2017 p 133 Gnoli 2022 p 319 a b c d e f g h Hansman 1991 pp 363 365 Potts 1988 p 137 Potts 1988 pp 137 138 Curtis 2007 pp 10 11 Bivar 1983 p 33 Garthwaite 2005 p 76 Brosius 2006 pp 86 87 Shayegan 2011 p 114 Pierre Louis Gatier Pierre Lombard Khaled Al Sindi 2002 ː Greek Inscriptions from Bahrain inː Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy Wiley 2002 13 2 pp 225 Pliny the Elder AD 77 Natural History Book VI xxxi 138 140 Translation by W H S Jones Loeb Classical Library London Cambridge Massachusetts 1961 Schuol 2000 p 282 Schuol 2000 p 329 353 Potts 1988 pp 148 149 LXVIII 28 3 29 Schuol 2000 p 350 Muhammad ibn Jarir al Tabari Ṭabari I Stephen A Kaufman 1983 Appendix C Alphabetic Texts In McGuire Gibson Excavations at Nippur Eleventh Season Oriental Institute Communications 22 pp 151 152 https oi uchicago edu research publications oic oic 22 excavations nippur eleventh season Yaqut al Hamawi Kitab mu jam al buldan IV and III Characene and Charax Characene and Charax Encyclopaedia IranicaSources EditBivar A D H 1983 The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids In Yarshater Ehsan ed The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3 1 The Seleucid Parthian and Sasanian Periods Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 21 99 ISBN 0 521 20092 X Bosworth C E 1986 ʿArab i Arabs and Iran in the pre Islamic period Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol II Fasc 2 pp 201 203 Brosius Maria 2006 The Persians An Introduction London amp New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 32089 4 Curtis Vesta Sarkhosh 2007 The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period in Curtis Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart ed The Age of the Parthians The Ideas of Iran vol 2 London amp New York I B Tauris amp Co Ltd in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum pp 7 25 ISBN 978 1 84511 406 0 Eilers Wilhelm 1983 Iran and Mesopotamia in Yarshater Ehsan ed Cambridge History of Iran vol 3 London Cambridge UP pp 481 505 Erskine Andrew Llewellyn Jones Lloyd Wallace Shane 2017 The Hellenistic Court Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra The Classical Press of Wales ISBN 978 1910589625 Garthwaite Gene Ralph 2005 The Persians Oxford amp Carlton Blackwell Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 1 55786 860 2 Gnoli Tommaso 2022 The Parthian and Sasanian Near East including Hatra Edessa and the Characene In Kaizer Ted ed A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East John Wiley amp Sons pp 316 327 ISBN 978 1444339826 Gregoratti Leonardo 2017 The Arsacid Empire In Daryaee Touraj ed King of the Seven Climes A History of the Ancient Iranian World 3000 BCE 651 CE UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies pp 1 236 ISBN 9780692864401 Hansman John F 1998 Elymais Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol VIII Fasc 4 pp 373 376 Hansman John 1991 Characene and Charax Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol V Fasc 4 pp 363 365 Potts Daniel T 1988 Araby the blest studies in Arabian archaeology Copenhagen Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies ISBN 8772890517 Schippmann K 1986 Arsacids ii The Arsacid dynasty Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol II Fasc 5 pp 525 536 Schuol Monika 2000 Die Charakene ein mesopotamisches Konigreich in hellenistisch parthischer Zeit Stuttgart Steiner ISBN 3 515 07709 X Shayegan M Rahim 2011 Arsacids and Sasanians Political Ideology in Post Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia Cambridge University Press pp 1 539 ISBN 9780521766418 Strootman Rolf 2017 Imperial Persianism Seleukids Arsakids and Frataraka In Strootman Rolf Versluys Miguel John eds Persianism in Antiquity Franz Steiner Verlag pp 177 201 ISBN 978 3515113823 Further reading EditGregoratti Leonardo A Parthian port on the Persian Gulf Characene and its Trade Anabasis Studia Classica et Orientalia 2 2011 209 229 Schuol Monika 2000 Die Charakene ein mesopotamisches Konigreich in hellenistisch parthischer Zeit Stuttgart F Steiner ISBN 3 515 07709 X Sheldon A Nodelman A Preliminary History of Charakene Berytus 13 1959 60 83 121 XXVII f Hansman John 1991 Characene and Charax Encyclopedia Iranica print version Vol V Fasc 4 pp 363 365 Retrieved 25 April 2016 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Characene amp oldid 1153177448, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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